Robin Fitzpatrick never knew peanuts could kill her son... The Plymouth, Mass., native was first diagnosed with a nut allergy when he was 8, after projectile-vomiting "across the room" at a Chinese restaurant, his mother said. In high school he suffered from a serious allergic reaction after he dropped his asthma inhaler into a pile of acorns... his mom couldn't find his Epi-Pen -- an epinephrine autoinjector. She had one in her cupboard but it had expired two months earlier. First responders told her over the phone that she shouldn't use it.

Egads, the mom didn't know he could die from peanuts yet he couldn't eat nuts/legumes or even touch them and had to carry an Epi-Pen? Sorry for her lose but between her and the 911 operator, he didn't stand a chance. If your kid is dying in your arms, you give him whatever help you can even if an epi-pen is a few weeks out of date. Who stands around wasting time reading the date in a life or death situation? Who doesn't know these dates are just to stave off the lawyers? Use the thing or suffer the consequences. The 911 operator needs to be fired. People are getting more stupid every day.

True on the date thing. Docs tell me that the epipen date doesn’t matter as long as the contents haven’t discolored (turned brown-which is why there is a viewing window in the thing) and if it is needed, use it.

If your kid is dying in your arms, you give him whatever help you can even if an epi-pen is a few weeks out of date.

This!^^^

Oh my gosh. Have we become SO dependenton authority figures and what they tell us (i.e., the government) that we simply are incapable of thinking for ourselves?? My kid is dying and I'm worried about a government required expiration date!!!

Yes, and if death from anaphylatic shock seemed to be imminent, I would even take my chances on using an epipen with discolored contents. Products that are beyond there recommended shelf lives typically lose their potency very gradually. In a true emergency, who cares if it is only 75% as potent as a fresh product?...it’s still probably good enough!

About a month ago hubby got the flu so I started digging around in the medicine cabinets. Came up with some Flumadine that was years out of date. Hubby said I can’t take that. I told him take it cause the dates on them didn’t really mean anything except a little loss of potency. He took it and got better.

My wife is deathly allergic to bee stings. We first discovered this on the day I almost lost her. At the time, I managed to get Benadryl down her just seconds before she passed out.

Her allergic reaction came on sudden and without warning, she was simply stung by a bee. She walked into the house, acted drunk, sat on the bed and fell onto the bed... and soon quit breathing. Had she been unattended at the time, she would likely be dead..... and so would I, because I don’t want to live without her.

After that, we always have Benadryl and two Epi-Pen’s around. One Pen in her purse and one that I control in my med bag. We keep them up to date, but if one were expired, I wouldn’t hesitate giving it to her. Frankly, the only other option would be to watch her die.

I was so struck by the televised newsreels of New Orleans people walking towards the stadium emergency center, where there were piles and piles of scattered timber, roofing pieces, tarps, etc lying all around. Yet they got on television and complained bitterly about the lack of privacy to urinate along the way. Had to reflect that red state people with scouting or military background would have built emergency privies without giving it a second thought.

At 19 years old, reponsibility for this lies solely on the deceased. An idiotic 911 operator, a bad info giving friend or a do as told mother did not cause this man’s death, he did. Sadly, lawyers will see that everyone but him is held responsible.

Exactly! Meds don’t lose 100% of their effectiveness at precisely 12:01AM on the expiration date! Pills are a slow-motion chemistry lab, perhaps producing compounds you don’t want (such as carcinogens) over time and reducing the effectiveness of those you do want. But meds can remain effective, at least somewhat, long after the expiration date. Avoid them if you can. But to save someone’s life, if that’s all you’ve got, of course you’ll administer them. Now, if you’re a healthcare professional, I can understand the reluctance. I mean, you could get your pants sued off. But for this poor mom and her son... Tragic.

It says in the epipen literature that the use of the pen is never contraindicated in an emergency. That should satisfy the lawyers.

Yes, it's not contraindicated, but that has nothing to do with the expiration date. If you think that's going to satisfy a trial lawyer, maybe you haven't observed many medical malpractice trials.

Unfortunately, EMS will not administer an expired medication. I suppose they could do it that one time and then start looking for a new job in another field, because they will lose their certification.

I personally agree with using an expired EpiPen in an emergency situation. If I'm staffing an ambulance, I won't do it -- but I wouldn't advise the parent not to.

There's at least one study out there that concluded that the "epinephrine bioavailability" of an outdated EpiPen is "significantly reduced," but it's still better than nothing as long it's not discolored.

30
posted on 03/15/2013 10:26:15 AM PDT
by FoxInSocks
("Hope is not a course of action." -- M. O'Neal, USMC)

This young man’s threat to his well being could not be eliminated with a gun but it is the same principle. You must be prepared to take care of you and yours at any moment and not be dependent upon the government.

Like my brother says: Forget the zombie apocalypse, we are in the midst of a retard apocalypse. lol. Seriously, no offense to the mentally disabled, but it’s true, you see it everywhere. The utter idiocy is rampant and overwhelming. Why is that? Is it the addiction to computers? To ipods, ipads, video games? I can’t believe half the stuff I see out there.

I saw one video the other day of a dog whose leash got stuck in an elevator, the owner was drunk and left the dog in the hallway while he went up in the elevator. And of course the dog got strangled then lifted up and hanged by the neck. So what happens? A woman comes out into the hallway, sees the dog hanging by the neck shaking to get loose. She stares at it and walks away.

A few minutes later she comes back with a man. They both look at the dog shaking, stare at it, then walk away. Then the man comes back alone, stares at the dog, who by the way is not doing anything vicious or frightening, and again he walks away.

So this goes on and on, they stare at the dog, stare at the dog..You can see the wheels creaking in their head, then again they walk away. Finally someone with half a brain comes who lifts the dog up to take the strain off his neck while again the other two morons stare. Then the guy gets the dog off the leash, but it’s too late. The dog is gone. The dog dies because like my brother says: We are in the midst of a retard apocalypse. Actually that is not quite an accurate term. The retarded look like Einsteins next to these morons. It’s more like an eggplant apocalypse. Eggplants have taken over.

39
posted on 03/15/2013 11:13:33 AM PDT
by GrandJediMasterYoda
(Someday our schools will teach the difference between "lose" and "loose")

I told him take it cause the dates on them didnt really mean anything except a little loss of potency.
**************************************************
If stored in a cool place most drugs are good for DECADES past the expiration date with very little loss of potency.

40
posted on 03/15/2013 11:33:14 AM PDT
by Neidermeyer
(I used to be disgusted , now I try to be amused.)

You can thank, at least in part, our hyper-litigious society for this.

I too was shocked a 911 operator would tell her to not use the epipen just because of the expiration date, but then it hit me. They are probably told to not advise anyone to use out of date medication because, if they do, and the victim dies, then that gives a crack for some sleaze ambulance chaser to squirm his way in to sue the 911 department.

So of course the mother shares some of the blame for her stupidity, but in this comedy of errors, there is also still plenty of blame for the creature we call the “civil lawyer”.

Some people lose all sense in a crisis. Maybe we are so conditioned to ask for help or to find someone else to take care of things that when real crisis happens, we become paralyzed.

A friend of ours had a crisis recently when her husband went into diabetic shock/coma. The husband recently had an insulin pump inserted into his person. His physician changed his insulin dosage for weekends. The dosage was BAD. The wife went into a panic because she had not had to deal with this kind of reaction in so long. She asked her son to dial 911, but the son was in a panic and could not do anything beyond running in circles. That’s when wife got it all together and took control. But initially, she was scared out of her wits. Literally. Anywho, she sent her son for a neighbor. She took over the phone thing. One problem she found with the phone is that the dispatcher was having trouble finding their address because wife called from a cell phone because they have no land line. The neighborhood is new. I’m not sure if their address is even on a map yet. It took the ambulance more than 30 minutes to arrive when it is literally within walking distance—less than a mile from their house!!!

if that wouldnt have worked id have cut an airway in his trachea and put a straw or pen tube in there temporarily.

Even if you performed the procedure correctly and gained access to the trachea, a cricothyrotomy probably wouldn't have helped in this case, because much of the critical airway constriction is further down in the smaller airways of the lungs.

However, it might be helpful if the kid was also choking on a piece of the cookie.

45
posted on 03/15/2013 12:05:56 PM PDT
by FoxInSocks
("Hope is not a course of action." -- M. O'Neal, USMC)

Yeah, you raise a good point. People can become mentally incapacitated during a crisis, but at some base level common sense should kick in when its a life and death situation. But yeah, I’m sure this poor soul is suffering and for that I grieve.

Yet they got on television and complained bitterly about the lack of privacy to urinate along the way.

The most lasting memory of Katrina was a white woman on the bridge hollering at the tv guy the water he'd given her wasn't properly chilled. Are we so stuck on stupid that we'd rather die of dehydration than drink a bottle of tepid water?

No the tragedy here is the 19 year old did not know, not to accept food substance from anyone being that he was the keeper of his life. The food does not have to have peanuts in it, just cooked in peanut oil is enough to cause severe reaction or death.
As far as the medication being out of date, It was her only option she should have taken it!
911 pps should be advised of their action and advice when death is an issue!

My grad school immunology professor related a sad tale from a prior year. He took the class to the vivarium to show them where the rabbits used to generate anti-serum are kept. One of the students immediately developed breathing problems and died of anaphylactic shock in front of the class. It was a harsh introduction to the brutality of the immune system.

Some weeks later we each performed a simple blood test on our own blood. A mix of fine Teflon balls is mixed with the blood sample and gently rocked on the slide to mix. Antigens and antibodies in the serum coat the balls. If there is an auto immune mix, the balls clump hard. My fellow students were much annoyed when 10 minutes of gently rocking netted no results. When I did it, my slide clumped with only 3 tips of the slide. Oops. A warning that rheumatoid arthritis was in my future. I was 20 years old at the time. Last week the bill came due. I'm 56 and the classic joint problems presented in my left hand joints and wrist.

The immune system is a wonderful thing, but it can also be very damaging.

They must have been playing bingo when they numbered our county roads because there’s no logic to them - CR123 might be 30 miles from CR124 or CR45 might be on the opposite side of the county of CR45-E. Most people don’t understand to stay on the line and tell the operator which part of the county they’re in and the nearby landmarks. Make that several landmarks because the operators or drivers don’t have a clue where they’re located.

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